


Thin White Memory

by LiterallyThePresident



Series: SI-9 [4]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast), Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Fluff, Scars, mention of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: Sammy regals Ben with that tale of how he and Jacobi met





	Thin White Memory

Ben had first seen the scar by accident, when he’d gone to Sammy’s house unexpectedly, and Sammy hadn’t had a shirt on. It wasn’t especially huge, more a raised pink line slashing across his side, but to Ben it seemed a massive marr of Sammy’s skin, and his wide eyed stare had drawn Sammy’s attention. 

“Oh. Uh... that.” he looked a little embarrassed, not at the scar but at Ben seeing it, “Just an old souvenir.”

“From what?” he asked, throat a little clogged with a sudden emotion as he stared at the raised and mottled flesh. Why hadn’t he known Sammy had a scar? Why did Sammy even have one so big? What else did he not know about his best friend?

“Car accident.” he shrugged, “Lunch?” and that was the end of it.

—-

He saw more of the scar on occasion after that. When Sammy fell asleep, when he stretched and his shirt rode up, when they went swimming. It didn’t seem like something he was necessarily embarrassed about, but he also didn’t like Ben staring at it for too long.

Ben couldn’t help it, though. His mind was full of ideas and possibilities about what could have put that scar on his gentle friend. His notebook had three new pages completely filled in with theories, and new one popped up every day.

Then Jacobi came to town. Sammy’s true history came out. And everything Ben knew was turned upside down in a single night.

“Where did you get the scar?” Ben finally got up the courage to ask, several weeks later. Sammy rolled his head to look at him, looking perfectly at ease on the couch. Like he’d known this would come up eventually and was just waiting for Ben to man up and ask.

“Which one?” Sammy asked idly, his dark eyes never leaving Ben’s. Ben felt a pang of hurt that Sammy apparently had more than one, but quickly smothered it.

“The one on your side.” he said, “The... most obvious one.”

“Why do you wanna know?”

“Because you’re my best friend and I  _hate_ not knowing anything about you!” he exclaimed, “At least, not anything real.“

“Ben-“

“And I really don’t like half the stuff I do find out either coming from Jacobi or by accident!”

Sammy gave him a critical look, and then sighed, “Will me telling you ease your mind?”

“It would be a start.” he murmured honestly, and Sammy seemed to soften a little. He gestured for Ben to sit down, leaning back in his own seat. 

“I’ll be honest with you, Ben.” he sighed, “I got the scar from a bad time in London back when I was just a lieutenant-colonel.”

“Okay, this is the second ‘Sammy gets his ass kicked in London’ story I’ve heard mentioned.” he couldn’t help but tease, “Maybe just don’t go there?” Sammy gave him a dry look, and some of the tension faded from the room.

“Oh, but you’ll probably love this one.” he chuckled, “This scar is technically Jacobi’s fault.”

“ _Excuse_ me?” Ben growled, baring his teeth a little, “I knew it! I knew that guy was no good!”

“I said  _technically_.” Sammy laughed fondly, “Lily’s the one who actually did it.” That brought Ben up short, and he gaped at Sammy like a fish.

“ _Lily_ ?” he exclaimed, “What do you mean Lily did it!?”

“It’s somewhat of a long story.” he warned, but Ben leaned into him and crossed his arms with a jut of his chin, the picture of stubbornness.

“I’m ready.”

“You sure? It’s also the tale of how Jacobi and I met.”

“Sammy, if you don’t tell me the story, I’m literally gonna explode.” That earned him a laugh, at least.

“Alright, so SI-9 was relatively new to Goddard, and we were still trying to prove ourselves.” Sammy started, “We kept running into Jacobi’s team on this case to retrieve important data for Goddard’s cyber warfare division, and it seemed like they were always one step ahead of us. Now little did we know, the boss had given them the same mission. He wanted to pit us against each other and see who came out on top. Five versus Nine.”

“Sounds like a real stand up guy.” Ben snorted, and Sammy chuckled.

“He got killed by a harpoon in space.” 

“A  _what_ in _where_?”

“So anyway, I knew we were screwed if we failed.” he said, “And SI-5 knew the same thing. So when it all came to a head, the final showdown and all that, Jacobi made an impulse decision that would have impressed Jacob Williams. He grabbed me, and used me as a hostage to get Jack and Lily to hand over the data.”

“Holy shit!”

“Yup.” he said, “It almost worked, too. Even Kepler looked proud, and that guy was brick wall. Unfortunately, however, Jacobi made a little mistake. Underestimated Lily. Jack wouldn’t make a move as long as I was in danger-“

“Good!”

“-something I really laid into him for later,” he said sternly, “so I looked Lily in the eyes and ordered her to shoot Jacobi through me.”

“Sammy...” Ben breathed, his chest a little tight, “And did she...?”

“Oh yeah, without hesitation.” he shrugged, “You saw the scar.”

“God.” Ben shook his head, trying not to show how disturbed he was, “That was from her...”

“Yup.”

“And... And what happened next?”

“Jacobi and I went down, Jack took the opportunity to charge Maxwell, Kepler and Lily were immediately at each other’s throats, snarling like wild tigers.” he smiled a little at the memory, “It gets a little fuzzy, but I remember looking at Jacobi and saying something like ‘Hey there hot stuff, come here often?’ and he laughed a wheezy little laugh with his red-stained teeth, and said he was gonna kill me when we got out of this.”

“He said  _what_!?”

“I don’t really remember what happened next because of all the blood loss and stuff,” Sammy continued, “but I woke up in a hospital later, and the boss had been so impressed with both teams that he let us all stay on, and when Jacobi broke into my apartment that night to make good on his promise, we ended up getting high together and were best buddies from then on.” he shrugged, “To make a long story short.”

“You... he...” Ben pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath, “He broke into your apartment. To kill you. And you  _got_ _high_ with him.”

“Such is life.” he laced his fingers behind his head, looking utterly relaxed, “If it helps, both Jack and Kepler hated our friendship even more than you do.”

“I keep hearing about this Kepler guy.” he said, watching Sammy closely for any reaction, “Who is he, like, an ex of Jacobi’s or something?”

“Or something.” Sammy sighed, unreadable, “Look Ben, that’s a conversation for another time. All you need to know is that Kepler was a manipulative douchebag who for some reason meant something to Jacobi, and now his cold corpse is floating in the black void of space while his right hand man starts the recovery process with the man he despised. Anything else is need to know basis.” he got up to stretch, and his short rode up. Seeing the scar this time was an entirely new manner of disquiet, knowing the cause. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to look at Lily the same way again after tonight. 

“Sammy?”

“Yeah?” Sammy blinked at him with those inquisitive eyes, and Ben managed a small smile despite his roiling emotions.

“Thanks for telling me.” he said quietly, and Sammy gave him a soft smile that was equal parts fond and indulgent.

“You’re my best friend, Ben.” he said, reaching over to ruffle his hair, chuckling at his indignant swat, “Never forget that, okay?”

“Even if Jacobi says otherwise?” he couldn’t help but prod, and Sammy chuckled.

“Jacobi has major attention issues, and he’s learned that provoking people works best.” he said, “Try to see past that. He’s a good guy.”

“I guess.” Ben grumbled, “But he’s still an ass.”

“Can’t argue with you there.” he laughed, “Hey, wanna hit Rose’s? It’s been a while since we had some pancakes.”

“Yes!” 


End file.
